Govt shutdown cost US economy twice the Mexico border wall; Report

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the US Government shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, which is double what the US President Donald Trump had requested to build a wall on the border with Mexico.

The shutdown’s impact on economic activity amounted to $3 billion, or 0.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), during the fourth quarter of 2018 and was projected to go all the way up to $8 billion, or 0.2 percent, in the first quarter of 2019.

The CBO said that the shutdown has caused irreversible damage to some businesses and around 800,000 federal workers who had to either work unpaid or stay furloughed for over a month.

“Among those who experienced the largest and most direct negative effects are federal workers who faced delayed compensation and private-sector entities that lost business,” the report says.

The CBO expected around $8 billion of the damage to be recuperated as employees went back to work but said the remaining $3 billion would never come back.

The report was requested by Democratic Representatives John Yarmuth, chairman of the budget committee, and Tom O’Halleran, co-chairman of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition.

“I am hopeful that we have finally reached a turning point with these mindless shutdowns, but this CBO estimate serves as a stark warning to President Trump on the consequences of using American workers as a bargaining chip,” Yarmuth said in a statement.